Pat Blankenship Injured in Hawthorne, Florida Accident

Pat Blankenship was injured in a Hawthorne, Florida accident on Monday, news sources report. The incident occurred when a metal cap dislodged from Art Perkins’s work truck and crashed through Blankenship’s window. Blankenship, 72, sustained minor injuries in the accident and was treated on the scene. His wife, Pat Blankenship, who was in his vehicle as well, was not injured. The Florida Highway Patrol investigated the day of the accident and said they will most likely not press charges against Perkins. It is still unclear whether Blankenship will file for damages.

The accident occurred around 2:30 Monday afternoon on Southeast Hawthorne Road in Hawthorne. Blankenship and his wife were on their way back home to Melrose after spending the past couple of days in South Florida. Reports say Perkins works for DB Construction Services and was traveling in the opposite lanes of the same road in his work truck. According to reports, Perkins was using his work truck to transport a part for repair.

As Blankenship and Perkins passed one another, a metal cap dislodged from Perkins’s truck and flew through Blankenship’s windshield. Blankenship spotted the stray piece of metal right before it crashed through the window. “By the time I got a glimpse of it and moved my head, it was there,” Blankenship said. The metal cap grazed the side of his head and landed in the back seat. “[It] scared me because blood just spurted out all over,” Blankenship told reporters. “I looked up and there was glass and blood going everywhere.”

Perkins felt a strange vibration after the metal cap came off. Thinking it may have been a deflated tire, Perkins pulled to the side of the road. Perkins was checking for damage to his vehicle, unaware of what had happened, when Blankenship approached him with the metal cap. Paramedics treated Blankenship at the scene and told him he would need to go to the hospital to have stiches.

In other news, Saintania Jean was critically injured in a Lake Park accident on Saturday, reports say. The accident occurred when Jean exited her car without putting it into park; the vehicle rolled back, trapping her underneath. Jean, 49, sustained critical injuries in the crash and was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. Police are currently going over the details of the incident; so far, no citations have been issued.
According to reports, the incident occurred around 5:00 Saturday evening along Jasmine Drive in Lake Park. Jean parked her 2002 Chrysler Concorde in a parking space on the side of the road. Jean reportedly forgot to shift her vehicle into park and the car began to roll backwards as she exited. She attempted to get back into the vehicle to put it in park, but the car struck a sign. Jean became pinned under the vehicle during that collision.

Someone alerted police about the incident and emergency workers soon arrived. They were able to free the victim, who was transported Jean to St. Mary’s Medical Center. Doctors listed her as being in critical condition. An update on her injuries was not immediately available following the accident.